EU/Euratom/Ukraine Association Agreement: trade preferences for poultry meat and poultry meat preparations

PURPOSE: to approve the conclusion of the Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the European Union and Ukraine amending the trade preferences for poultry meat and poultry meat preparations provided for by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2019/2145 on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and Ukraine amending the trade preferences for poultry meat and poultry meat preparations provided for by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part.

CONTENT: the Council approved, on behalf of the European Union, the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and Ukraine amending the trade preferences for poultry meat and poultry meat preparations provided for by the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part.

The Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part entered into force on 1 September 2017. Negotiations to find a solution by amending trade preferences were successfully concluded on 19 March 2019. The Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters was signed on 30 July 2019, subject to the conclusion of the said Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters.

As a reminder, a new type of poultry cut consists of a traditional breast cap with the humerus bones of the wings attached and can, after minimal transformation in the Union, be marketed in the Union as poultry breast. Unlimited imports of those cuts, of which imports from Ukraine reached 55 500 tons in 2018, therefore risk undermining the conditions under which traditional poultry breast cuts may be imported into the Union under the Association Agreement, in particular the quantitative restrictions in the form of a tariff rate quota.

The new poultry regime will handle boneless and bony chicken breasts on a single tariff line, and will raise the amounts that Ukraine is able to export to the EU without tariffs. Once Ukrainian exporters have exhausted the duty-free quota, they will have to pay duties on additional exports to the EU.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 05/12/2019.